After Lai San'er and Jin Da went out, Qin Shuhuai drank tea and meditated alone in the courtyard.

Now that Qian'an has been captured, the next move of the army is crucial, but how to take this step?

The biggest problem is that the current army is far from enough! Counting Zu Dashou's 4,000 elite cavalry, he now only has a total of more than 42,000 soldiers and horses (counting the wounded soldiers who can still fight).

If you continue to attack the Santun camp, then in order to guard against Yongping's 8,000 Tartar elites, at least 5,000 troops must be put in Qian'an to defend, so that there are only 37,000 people who can be brought to fight the Santun camp.

In the Santun camp, Dolgon should have at least 20,000 elite soldiers on his hands. 37,000 against 20,000, even if it is a field battle, the coalition forces may not be able to win, and even if they win, they will inevitably suffer heavy losses. What's more, Dolgon is now the defender of the city, so it will be even more difficult to fight.

Moreover, according to previous information, the Tartars still have at least 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses north of the Santun camp, and if they pull 10,000 to ambush outside the Santun camp, this battle will basically be impossible to fight!

While Qin Shuhuai was racking his brains in Qian'an, Yuan Chonghuan was also waiting for the autumn water in Zunhua City.

Now the Tartars are not attacking the city, but there is a shortage of food in the city!

The city had run out of rice, and now it was left to kill horses to satisfy its hunger. However, these war horses are also due to the lack of food and grass, they don't have much fat, and a normal war horse is at least about 1,200 catties, but now the war horses in the city are only about 900 catties. Excluding bones, etc., killing a horse can actually get two or three hundred catties of meat. There are more than 50,000 troops in the city, how many horses do you have to eat in a day?

Yuan Chonghuan estimated that if he continued like this, he would be able to hold out for another six or seven days at most, and if Qin Shuhuai didn't come within six or seven days, he would have to go out of the city and fight with the Tartars.

Yuan Chonghuan is in a hurry, and Huang Taiji is also in a hurry!

He was also short of food! I thought that he could get grain and grass by capturing the Santun camp, but unfortunately that ancestor Dashou was ruthless and burned all the grain and grass in the city!

And it started burning in the evening, and by the time he broke through, all the grain had been burned clean!

According to normal logic, it is impossible for the defenders to burn grain before the city is broken, because once the army is burned, it will be shaken. And it may not burn after the city is broken, because many generals think that their own army can still retake the city. And even if it is burned, it is burned when the city is about to be broken and the general trend has gone, and if Zu Dashou does this, the Houjin army can at least save a lot of food.

But the problem is that Zu Dashou didn't want to defend the Santun camp at all, so he burned it in advance! It burned cleanly, and by the way, it also used up the fire oil in the city!

This is Zu Dashou, a refined self-interestist, and at the same time a general with excellent strategic vision. It's hard to say that he's a hero, but it's impossible to deny his talent.

The siege of the city has been so long, and the grain and grass of Huang Taiji have been almost consumed. Now his soldiers had to reduce their rations, eating only one meal a day, and even then there were only three or four days' rations left in the army.

He was originally waiting for the 20,000 troops in Qian'an and Yongping to "collect grain", and he could send it over after collecting grain. However, just now, what he got was the news that Qian'an had been captured by Qin Shuhuai like lightning, Yongping's 8,000 troops were hanging alone, and even the 15,000 reinforcements sent by the Santun camp were almost wiped out by Qin Shuhuai!

The deep frustration at the time of his defeat suddenly rose in Huang Taiji's heart. He put down the Tang newspaper and kept muttering: "Qin Shuhuai, Qin Shuhuai......"

When he entered the customs, he brought a total of 140,000 elites, and lost 20,000 in the attack on Zunhua City, and now he has been annihilated by Qin Shuhuai with 30,000, leaving only 90,000. And among these 90,000 people, there are still 8,000 lonely people who can't advance or retreat in Yongping, and now it seems that they are also more auspicious.

Huang Taiji sighed a few times, and then looked at Fan Wencheng.

Because of the existence of Qin Shuhuai, the current Fan Wencheng is more trusted by Huang Taiji than in history. Qin Shuhuai convinced Huang Taiji that the Han people's ability to strategize was much higher than that of their Manchurians.

And Fan Wencheng is also a Han Chinese, and he has proven himself to be a trustworthy advisor in the previous events such as borrowing troops from the Duoyan Department, planning to seize the Santun camp, and using clever tactics to help the army get out of trouble in the Battle of Jisi.

Huang Taiji has the world in mind and is thirsty for talents, and does not treat Fan Wencheng differently because he is a Han, but is very kind to him.

"Mr. Fan, although the Santun camp is now down, Zunhua City has not been conquered for a long time, and Qin Shuhuai has led elite troops to seize Qian'an City, which is the time when the enemy and us are stalemate. And our army ...... There is a risk that the grain and grass will be insufficient, I wonder what other good plan Mr. has?" asked Huang Taiji.

Fan Wencheng stood up and made a respectful gesture, and then said, "Great Khan, as far as the minister knows, that Qin Shuhuai now only has 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and Dolgon Belle still has 24,000 elite soldiers in the Santun camp, and now the 10,000 troops of Mang Gurtai stationed in Hongshankou, Hanerzhuang and other places have set off to rush to the aid of the Santun camp, so the Santun camp is bound to be impregnable." ”

Huang Taiji nodded, and then asked, "And then?"

"As for the city of Zunhua, now that Yuan Chonghuan has been waiting for reinforcements for a long time, there must be an extreme shortage of food in the city, and the minister predicts that if he can't wait for reinforcements in a few days, he will have to break through. And our army currently only has 30,000 elite sieges, if Yuan Chonghuan transfers troops from Jizhou to help him break through, I am afraid that our army will suffer. ”

Huang Taiji said, "Mr. is reasonable. Although there are only 5,000 Changping troops in Jizhou, the total strength is also 60,000, and if there are 30,000 or 40,000, it will be difficult to deal with. ”

"Great Khan is wise!" Fan Wencheng wasted no time in praising Emperor Taiji, and then said, "Therefore, the minister suggested that the five thousand cavalry of the Duoyan Department stationed near Ma Lanyu should also be transferred to Shimen Village, so that with the eight thousand men and horses of Duoduo Belle, it would be more than enough to defend Shimen Village." And as long as Shimen Village is not lost, Zunhua will be safe. ”

Shimenzhai is the only place to pass through from Jizhou to Zunhua, and if the Jizhou army wants to Zunhua, it must conquer Shimenzhai, which is the same as the fact that it is necessary to conquer Santun camp from Qian'an to Zunhua.

Later Jin didn't pay attention to the guards of the Ming army, that is, the Tuntian soldiers. Although there are 60,000 troops in Jizhou City, only 5,000 Xuanfu troops can support the elite of the Ming army, and the rest are guards. Under field conditions, 5,000 Mongol cavalry with 8,000 Houjin infantry could defeat at least 40,000 guards. And if these Tartar soldiers are used to defend the city, it is estimated that fifty or sixty thousand guards may not be able to capture it.

Therefore, Fan Wencheng's arrangement can basically ensure that Jizhou cannot send reinforcements to help Yuan Chonghuan break through.

In Zunhua, the 30,000 Houjin elite faced the 50,000 army composed of 20,000 Guan Ning troops and 30,000 guards under Yuan Chonghuan, and the victory rate was at least 80% or more under field conditions.

After saying this, Fan Wencheng said, "Therefore, the key to the victory or defeat of our army and the Ming army now lies not in the strength of the army, but in the grain and grass!"

Huang Taiji listened to it frequently, and said, "Sir, please continue." ”